prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2006-01-10 07:17 am

ithyphallic

ithyphallic - adj., having an erect penis.


Usually used of art -- especially ancient art (for ex., the boundary markers in ancient Greece, called herms, were pillars with heads and a phallus on the side -- and then there's all those statues of Priapus in the gardens). By extension, though, in Victorian times this came to mean grossly indecent, lewd, obscene. From Greek ithys, straight, + phallus, penis.

---L.

Post a comment in response:

This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting